“E-Eugene—”
“Shh, wait,” I whispered, raising a hand to interrupt Sumire’s worried murmur. I strained my ears.
Thud... Thud... Cerberus was stalking nearer, the ground shaking slightly with every step it took. I could hear someone’s frantic heartbeat, though I didn’t know if it was mine or Sumire’s. Huff...huff...huff... The beast’s rapid panting reached my ears.
“Eek!” The small scream escaped Sumire’s mouth, and I hurriedly slapped my hand over the lower half of her face.
Cerberus languidly lowered one of its three heads toward the hollow. One massive eyeball, as large as a human head, was searching for its next prey. I felt like my eyes met that large black pupil, but it didn’t notice us. The barrier was working.
Huff...huff...huff... The sound of its breathing echoed through the hole. Sumire had clasped both hands over her mouth as if to stop her own breathing.
Hurry up and go somewhere else! I prayed in my heart. Cerberus glared at the barrier for a moment longer before it finally padded off. W-We survived. My knees gave out, and I slumped to the ground.
“Hey, what was that?” Sumire asked, her voice thick with tears.
I pulled her close against me and felt her body trembling. I was probably shaking as well.
To calm myself down, I slowly explained, “Sumire, the school taught you how we rank monsters based on how strong and how dangerous they are, right?”
“Y-Yeah. Miss Rin explained it to me.”
I nodded. Monsters were ranked based on their danger level, so when explorers encountered one in the dungeon, they could decide if they wanted to fight or flee. “Designated calamity” was the name for the most powerful creatures on that scale; it referred to monsters that could destroy, or had destroyed, an entire town. Mature dragons, for example, counted as designated calamities. Ancient Dragons, who were said to have lived for over a thousand years, were all designated calamities, without exception.
I’d never fought against a designated calamity. My old man had, apparently, but he’d also once said, “I’m not crazy enough to want to fight against a monster that’s a designated calamity.”
“So you’re saying that Cerberus thing is a designated calamity?” Sumire asked.
“No,” I replied, gritting my teeth. Yes, the most dangerous monsters were designated calamities, but Cerberus wasn’t included among them, for it was a Divine Beast. “Divine Beasts are far more powerful than those designated calamities. They’re monsters who’ve lived for hundreds of thousands of years, since way back in the Age of Legends.”
“H-How can that...?” Sumire didn’t seem to comprehend. I, too, wished that this were all just a nightmare.
“Divine Beasts are the vassals of God in Heaven. Under normal circumstances, they would never be on this level. They’re special beings that only appear in this Last Dungeon.” Yes, normally, one would never run into a Divine Beast, as they only appeared under specific conditions. “When God created the Last Dungeon, He set up a Deus Discipline every hundred floors, and they’re the only place where one would encounter a Divine Beast. So there’s no way we should be running into one on a floor below the 100th. There’s just no way.”
“This is the 20th Level, right?” Sumire murmured, sniffling.
“Yeah, it’s weird. This is unprecedented.”
Something impossible was happening. Was this what Leona had been talking about when she mentioned an anomaly in the dungeon’s difficulty settings? Even so, this was just too crazy. What was the Last Dungeon thinking, sending a Divine Beast after explorers who’d just reached the 20th Level?!
No, getting angry isn’t going to help us. Sumire was shaking like a leaf. To ease her fears, I hugged her even tighter, and slowly but surely, her trembling subsided.
After a moment, she asked in a soft voice, “Eugene, what did you mean when you said we couldn’t kill that thing?”
“Unlike monsters, Divine Beasts are overflowing with limitless life energy. Explorers don’t clear a Deus Discipline by defeating the Divine Beast. Instead, they have to use their smarts and courage to overcome this challenge, and then proceed to the next floor. That’s what a Deus Discipline is all about. So some people call these monsters that appear every hundred floors Discipline Beasts.”
“How do we overcome the challenge?”
“It depends on the Divine Beast,” I answered in a weak voice.
The highest floor of the dungeon I’d reached before now was the 19th; only on this trip had I finally succeeded in overwriting my past record. I’d never imagined I would have to face off against a monster from the 100th Level.
Sumire fell silent at my words, but as if she couldn’t bear the quiet, she spoke again. “I-Is that three-headed monster really strong?”
“Yeah, Cerberus is a famous Divine Beast.” Drawing on the knowledge in my memories, I continued, “There’s no rule or pattern behind which Divine Beast will appear in a Deus Discipline. Unlike the other levels, the 100th and 200th Levels are usually empty. The dungeon only summons a Divine Beast after a challenger shows up. This isn’t the first time Cerberus has served as a Deus Discipline, but as far as I know, there hasn’t been a single explorer in the past century who’s bested it.”
It was only after I finished speaking that I realized how horrible all my intel was.
“Th-This can’t be happening,” Sumire whimpered.
Some Divine Beasts were far more powerful than others. The exploration classes at the academy taught us to simply give up if we had the misfortune of encountering the Guard Dog of the Underworld in the dungeon.
“I wonder if Miss Leona and the others are all right,” Sumire continued.
“I have no idea. Hopefully they got away.”
“What should we do now?”
“Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to wait for the dungeon staff to save us.”
Those on the outside should be monitoring the situation using the Satellite System. Surely they were putting together a rescue team.
“Are the dungeon staff strong enough to defeat that creature?” Sumire asked.
“I doubt it. They’ll probably request help from the higher-ranking explorers who’ve already cleared the 100th Level.”
“O-Oh, right! That puts me at ease!”
A small smile returned to Sumire’s face, but I still had my own worries. A-rank explorers—adventurers who’d cleared the 100th Level—were few in number, and they spent pretty much all their time inside the dungeon. The dungeon staff would have to find a party outside and hire them for an immediate rescue mission. Would we be so lucky?
I looked over at the bag of supplies I’d brought. Since we hadn’t initially planned on spending the night here, I hadn’t brought a lot of food. With only about half a day’s worth of provisions left, would we be able to survive until help arrived?
Sumire and I huddled closer in the small hole as we continued to wait. Every once in a while, Sumire asked me a few questions. But, truthfully, with my attention occupied by the Divine Beast roaming outside, I couldn’t focus on our conversations.
Time passed slowly. How long had we been in here? It felt like we’d been hiding for hours, but there was always the chance that only an hour had passed. As soon as the thought passed through my mind, a robotic announcement rang over the 20th Level.
“The Deus Discipline has ended. All challengers have been eliminated.”
Sumire was the first to react. “Huh?”
All challengers have been eliminated. That was what the announcement had said, but could that be possible? Sumire and I were right here. Then again, we hadn’t formed an official collaborative party with the Martial Arts Club. We were simply two groups traveling in the same direction. So if the Last Dungeon only considered the Martial Arts Club members the challengers of this floor, that meant...
“A-All of them have been eliminated? Th-Then, what about Miss Leona? I c-can’t believe...” Sumire started shaking violently, and I pulled her into a silent embrace.
What should I do? No, there’s nothing to think about. We have no choice but to stay here using Hidden Veil. The moment I decided on our next course of action, the robotic voice sounded out again.
“To the new challengers inside the Boss’s territory...”